Boston Bruins Defeat Vancouver Canucks to Win Stanley Cup

The Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0, on the Canucks’ home ice Wednesday night to win the Stanley Cup, the first time the franchise has claimed hockey’s holy grail since 1972.

Patrice Bergeron got Boston on the board with 5:32 left in the first period. It continued a trend in which the team that scored first wins the game. However, it also defied a trend in which the home team had won each game in the series.

Bergeron would score another goal and Brad Marchand added two of his own to pace the Bruins, while goalie Tim Thomas made 37 saves to record the shutout, his second in this series. For his efforts, he was named the series’ MVP.

The Bruins took a 1-0 lead after one period and tacked on a pair in the second period to go up 3-0, essentially dashing the Canucks’ hopes. They added another goal late in the third to ice the game.

The victory capped an amazing run for the Bruins, who won three game sevens in the course of this season’s playoffs. That’s the first time in NHL history that has ever happened.

Vancouver’s loss means the franchise is still without a Stanley Cup after 40 years in existence. A victory in the series would’ve meant a team from Canada would’ve won the cup for the first time since the Montreal Canadiens did so in 1993.